Furniture with assembly-disassembly feature

ABSTRACT

Furniture is provided with a telescoping joint that secures and spaces shelves and other elements. A stud has a tight fit in a hole drilled at each corner of a rectangular shelf. A spacer member of tubular shape slips over the stud and extends vertically to the next stud joining to it in a similar telescoping fit. The stud can be of wound paper core material while the spacer may be of plastic pipe. No fasteners are required because of the snug fit between the elements.

United States Patent 91 Misenheimer, III

[451 May 1, 1973 FURNITURE WITH ASSEMBLY- DISASSEMBLY FEATURE [75]Inventor: Ernest Luther Misenheimer, III,

Drexel,N.C.

[73] Assignee: U.S Plywood-Champion Paper Inc.,

Hamilton, Ohio 22 Filed: Aug. 26, 1971 21 Appl.No.: 175,242

[52] U.S. Cl. ..312/l08, 312/111, 108/60, 108/111, 108/159, 211/148 [51]Int. Cl. ..A47b 87/00 [58] Field of Search ..108/91,11l,153, lO8/159,60; 312/108, 111; 211/148 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS3,674,229 7/1972 Keeler ..21l/148 X 2,654,487 lO/l953 Degener ..lO8/9l X1,209,157 12/1916 Heerdt ..l08/l 11 1,340,562 5/1920 Sandmann.. 1 2/108387,267 8/1888 Talbot ..108/1 1 1 2,557,766 6/1951 Ronfeldt 108/153 UX2,944,780 7/1960 Monk 108/1 1 l X 3,585,944 6/1971 Scheer ..l08/l11Primary Examiner.lames C. Mitchell Attorney-Daniel P. Worth [5 7]ABSTRACT Furniture is provided with a telescoping joint that secures andspaces shelves and other elements. A stud has a tight fit in a holedrilled at each corner of a rectangular shelf. A spacer member oftubular shape slips over the stud and extends vertically to the nextstud joining to it in a similar telescoping fit. The stud can be ofwound paper core material while the spacer may be of plastic pipe. Nofasteners are required because of the snug fit between the elements.

9 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTED W 1 I973 SHEET 1 [1F 2 FIG. 4

FURNITURE WITH ASSEMBLY-DISASSEMBLY FEATURE SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OFINVENTION This invention relates to improvements in furniture, cabinetware, and the like. One aspect of the invention provides furniture whichmay be readily assembled and disassembled. Another aspect of theinvention provides furniture which does not require or use fasteners forassembly.

It is known to make furniture such as file cabinets by stacking togethercases having sockets or tubes integral therewith and then locking thecases together with a wire or rod stuck down through the sockets or byassembling them into a skeleton of rods and cross-members. Tubular framefurniture may occasionally have internal studs connecting tubularmembers. US. Pat. Nos. 1,340,562 (FIG. 3) and 1,994,159 (FIGS. 7,8)exemplify a number of these features.

The present invention does not employ boxes or cases having integraltubular members at the corners nor does it apply horizontal connectorsor other supplementary structural elements. Neither does the presentinvention require the use of preexisting boxes, cases, or likestructures to provide structural elements for a cabinet or similar pieceof furniture.

The present invention provides furniture secured together bytelescopingmembers which are assembled at the corners of the furniture and featurea horizontal shelf having a vertical hole at each corner with a verticalstud tightly fitted into the hole and extending on both sides of theshelf. Spacer members are slidably or telescopically fitted over eachstud and extend vertically to the adjacent shelf where it engages thestud on such shelf in similar manner. Preferably a stud may bepermanently fixed in one end only of the spacers. No fasteners areemployed by the party assembling the furniture nor are horizontalconnectors other than the shelf per se employed. As may be readilyvisualized, each shelf is preferably rectangular and has a plurality ofholes, preferably one hole at each corner, in each of which a verticalstud is fitted.

An enclosure can be made between each parallelepiped formed by a pair ofvertically adjacent shelves and their connecting structures at eachcorner by providing vertical walls extending between each of thespacers. The walls are coped so that each end has a groove shaped tofitthe spacer. Since the spacers are ordinarily of circularcross-section, the groove is likewise.

In a preferred embodiment the shelf is of wood, the stud is of spirallywound paper core material, and the spacers are of plastic tube or pipe.The shelves are preferably horizontal and rectangular for the most part,with a hole to receive the stud snugly at each corner. I

Other objects, advantages and features should become apparent from thefollowing disclosure wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective assembly view of one embodiment of the cabinet;

FIG. 2 is a side cross-section of a joint as viewed along section 2-2 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a plan cross-section of a joint as viewed along section 2A2Aof FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a perspective of an assembled shelving unit designed to goaround a corner;

FIG. 3A shows a side cross-section of a blind hole suitable for top,bottom and intermediate shelving members as viewed along section 3A3A ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing enclosure wall details;

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view along section 22 of FIG. 1 showing amodified joint having a corrugated or irregularly shaped spacer.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are cross-sections of leg and arch details; and

FIG. 8 is a door mounting detail.

FIG. 1 illustrates an assembled shelving unit ll comprising a pluralityof vertically spaced apart horizontal shelves 2 which are respectivelyheld together by a plurality of connecting assemblies 3 constructed asgenerally illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5. Each connector assembly 3comprises a stud 4 extending outwardly of the planes of the shelfsurfaces and which fits tightly into a hole 5 drilled in each shelf. Atubular spacer member 6 comprised conveniently of plastic pipe or tubingfits snugly in telescoping fashion over each stud and extends verticallyto an adjacent stud aligned therewith in order to form a complete cornerjoint and structural spacing member. Spacers are cut the length desiredfor vertical shelf spacing. No fasteners are necessary.

Circular cross-sections (FIG. 2A) for the stud spacers and holes in theshelves are preferred because of the ease of their formation andavailability of materials from which to make the respective studs,spacers, etc. The tight fit of the stud in the hole is desirable so thatthe stud can be a short member, far shorter than the various spacers,and yet because of the right fit helps to prevent the ultimate assemblyfrom being shaky and wobbly. The snug fit of the spacers with the studsalso contributes to a rigid structure. Other crosssections than round,as seen in FIG. 5, may be provided for any of the elements. In FIG. 5only the spacer 6A is shown non-circular in cross-section, although theother elements could be similarly or congruently shaped. For example, asquare hole, square stud and square spacer could be provided but theavailability and ease of machining, especially in drilling the hole,suggests the circular as the most convenient and least expensive mode.

As seen in FIGS. 1, 3 and 3A certain shelves such as top, bottom andsome intermediate shelves require blind holes 10 in order to leave onesurface unobstructed, e.g., a top surface. The alternative to the blindholes is to employ an arch 11 or similar corner architectural member asillustrated in FIG. 1. However, a blind hole is constructed as in FIG.3A, and basically involves a hole going only part of the way through theshelf into which a stud 4 or a half length stud is snugly fitted. Aspacer member 6 is attached to the stud and extends to the verticallyadjacent stud in another shelving member.

The shelves per se are the only horizontal connectors. Even theenclosure walls (FIG. 4), described below, are not structural, i.e.,load bearing members as are the shelves, studs, and spacers.

As should be evident from the embodiment of FIG. 3 secondary holes 5Aand accompanying connecting assemblies 3 are intermediate of the shelfcorners to provide a means of making furniture or cabinet goods capableof fitting into a corner or with shelving elements at angles (normallyat right angles) to each other. Secondary holes 5A and assemblies 3likewise are useful in lateral or horizontal extension of a shelf asshown in FIG. 1. Also, both FIGS. 1 and 3 show how to -make either adirectly lateral or angular horizontal extension, wherein one shelfextends in the direction desired from between a pair of other shelves.At least I substantially that of the outside of the adjacent spacers,

whereby a nice fit is maintained. The parts are dimensioned so that afairly snug fit results. Where the spacers are circular incross-section, the [rabbetted are groove 16 has a circular section [s].During assembly, the wall slides into place between the spacers at itsrespective ends.

An enclosure 12 of the sort shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 may require a door17 or the like on its front edge. The door 17 is vertically smaller thanthe walls 15 whereby there is sufficient clearance for the doors toswing in and out between the shelves. In FIG. 8 is a preferred door andhinge construction having a rigid (metal, plaster) plate 19 secured byscrews 20 to a hinge barrel 21. The plate has a flat part 22 and acarved part 23 for respectively securing to the flat panel 17 androunded surface of barrel 21. The barrel 21 turns on studs 4 whichextend a' short way into each end. Between the barrel 21 and the shelves2 above and below it are washers 25 and 26. The barrel and washers mayall be lengths of plastic pipe as are spacer 6. The washers arevertically shorter than studs and so the latter can engage the bore ofthe barrel.

Components such as stud and spacer and door, plate, and barrel may bepackaged at the factory, shipped to retail outlets, and completelyassembled by the purchasing public. Preferably a stud is permanentlysecured v(as by glue) into one end of each spacer at the factory so thatone component results: e.g., in FIG. 6 stud 4 would be glued into spacer6 to form a spacing assembly which the assembler uses as shown in FIGS.1, 2, 2A, 6 and 7, the other end of the spacer 6 being open so that itcan receive the stud from the next adjacent spacing assembly.

I claim as my invention:

1. In furniture secured together by telescoping members assembled atcorners of the furniture the improvement comprising:

i a horizontal shelf having a vertical hole at a corner;

a single vertical stud tightly fitted into said hole and extending onboth sides of said shelf;

a spacer slidably fitted over said stud and extending vertically towhere it can engage another shelf around a corresponding verticallyaligned hole therein, said single stud being the only memberinternallyengaging said spacer adjacent said shelf hole;

said shelf being the sole and only horizontal connector between saidstud and any other stud engaging said shelf. 2. A furniture improvementaccording to claim 1 comprising a plurality of vertically spacedhorizontal shelves each with a plurality of such holes through each saidshelf, a stud in each hole as aforesaid, each hole and stud beingvertically aligned with a corresponding hole and stud on the verticallyadjacent shelf, and the connectors each extending between a pair of suchvertically aligned holes and studs.

3. A furniture improvement according to claim 1 comprising said hole,stud, and spacer each having a further comprising an enclosure havingvertical walls 1 each wall extending between vertically adjacent shelvesand adjacent spacers,

each said hole, stud, and spacer having a circular cross-section orcylindrical external surface,

each of said walls being shaped at each end with a groove with acircular section that will fit said spacers, each wall having a slidingfit engagement with two spacers.

7. Afurniture improvement according to claim 2 which is made to provideshelves extending at an angle from each other as at a corner wherein atleast one shelf extends in its longitudinal direction between a pair ofother shelves which pair extends'longitudinally at an angle to said oneshelf, at least one. of which pair has a hole at an intermediatelocation along its back edge between the two holes at the backcorners,-a stud snugly fitted in said back edge hole, and a spacerextending from said back edge hole to said one shelf.

8. A furniture improvement according to claim 1 wherein said studextends through said hole and protrudes outwardly from the plane of eachsurface of i

1. In furniture secured together by telescoping members assembled atcorners of the furniture the improvement comprising: a horizontal shelfhaving a vertical hole at a corner; a single vertical stud tightlyfitted into said hole and extending on both sides of said shelf; aspacer slidably fitted over said stud and extending vertically to whereit can engage another shelf around a corresponding vertically alignedhole therein, said single stud being the only member internally engagingsaid spacer adjacent said shelf hole; said shelf being the sole and onlyhorizontal connector between said stud and any other stud engaging saidshelf.
 2. A furniture improvement according to claim 1 comprising aplurality of vertically spaced horizontal shelves each with a pluralityof such holes through each said shelf, a stud in each hole as aforesaid,each hole and stud being vertically aligned with a corresponding holeand stud on the vertically adjacent shelf, and the connectors eachextending between a pair of such vertically aligned holes and studs. 3.A furniture improvement according to claim 1 comprising said hole, stud,and spacer each having a circular cross-section.
 4. A furnitureimprovement according to claim 1 comprising said hole and stud eachhaving a circular cross-section.
 5. A furniture improvement according toclaim 2 further comprising an enclosure having vertical walls each wallextending between vertically adjacent shelves and adjacent spacers.
 6. Afurniture improvement according to claim 2 further comprising anenclosure having vertical walls each wall extending between verticallyadjacent shelves and adjacent spacers, each said hole, stud, and spacerhaving a circular cross-section Or cylindrical external surface, each ofsaid walls being shaped at each end with a groove with a circularsection that will fit said spacers, each wall having a sliding fitengagement with two spacers.
 7. A furniture improvement according toclaim 2 which is made to provide shelves extending at an angle from eachother as at a corner wherein at least one shelf extends in itslongitudinal direction between a pair of other shelves which pairextends longitudinally at an angle to said one shelf, at least one ofwhich pair has a hole at an intermediate location along its back edgebetween the two holes at the back corners, a stud snugly fitted in saidback edge hole, and a spacer extending from said back edge hole to saidone shelf.
 8. A furniture improvement according to claim 1 wherein saidstud extends through said hole and protrudes outwardly from the plane ofeach surface of said shelf.
 9. A furniture improvement according toclaim 1 wherein said stud is a paper core and said spacer is a length ofplastic pipe the inner diameter of which spacer is substantially thesame as the outer diameter of said core.